Shared Souls: A Brothers' Story
by queen-of-the-arts
Summary: A spirited man called Rael Kess has just been released from prison and he has only one thing on his mind, find his estranged brother! Will he find him and if he does what will happen? Will it be a joyful reunion or turn to all out war? Find out for yourself in "Shared Souls : A Brothers' Story."
1. Chapter 1: Freedom!

**Chapter 1: Freedom**

"Come on Kess, get up. You're out of here," came the voice of the DWMA's only deceased professor, Sid Barett, the zombie. Keys clinked in his hand as he unlocked the door to one of the cells in the school's basement. Stepping inside he could see the prisoner sitting in the corner. He was a young man of about 30 years old or so. His hair was reddish brown, quite long and shaggy. He had gray eyes that shone with intelligence and mischief as he looked up at the zombie.

"So you finally got sick of lookin' at this face?" Rael Kess joked. His voice was loud and characterized by a thick New Jersey accent.

Sid chuckled and shook his head. That kid was crazy. He'd always been amazed that even after being locked up alone down there for five years Rael was still cheerful and joking. "It wasn't my decision. I was just told to come down and let you out." As he spoke Barett handed the prisoner a pile of clothes. "This was what you were wearing when they captured you. You get them back now."

"Bet they'll still fit me even," the young man laughed. "I sure as hell didn't gain any weight in here." He thought for a moment before adding, "Probably didn't really lose any either. You guys treat your prisoners pretty decent." Rael took the clothes from Sid and began slipping out of the things he'd been given by the school and into his old things. "Sure feels good to get back into my own stuff again," he said as he buttoned a pair of gray jeans and put on a red shirt.

"Now look," Sid said, his voice serious, "there are some rules you're going to have to follow."

"What? You mean this ain't a 'get out of jail free card?'" Rael protested as he slipped on a navy blue jacket and a gray paper-boy cap. "How can there be rules to being released?"

"This is parole, Kess. It's not exactly the same thing. Now listen up and try to pay attention. I'm not in the habit of repeating myself."

"Huh? Say what?" Rael laughed at his own lame attempt at humor.

Sid only shook his head and continued. "First rule: you cannot leave Death City. Number two: you must check in with me each week. We'll discuss your situation and if necessary I'll make recommendations for changes to Lord Death."

"You take my case all the way to the big man himself? You must think I'm a big time crook, a real threat." The man in the cap smiled at the thought. He liked people to think he was tough and deadly.

The zombie groaned and continued with what he was saying. "You'll be expected to get a job and become a productive member of society. If you cannot find one on your own someone from the school will assist you. Rule number four…"

Rael didn't hear the rest of Sid's lecture. His mind had begun to wander. His thoughts became focused on the subject that had been foremost in his mind recently, his brother. Where was he now? Was he even alive after the battle for Baba Yaga Castle in which they'd both fought? Rael had never encountered him or heard of him being a prisoner at DWMA. He was pretty sure that in five years he would have heard about his brother. He was pretty unforgettable and really good at getting himself noticed. No, he had to be dead or had somehow managed to escape that day.

As Sid droned on, Rael's mind fixated on the idea he'd been toying with for months now. Everyone he'd ever cared for was dead. He was alone in the world unless his older brother was still out there somewhere. The truth was that they'd never gotten along. In fact Rael hadn't even seen him since he was ten years old. His older brother wasn't really the first person that he would have chosen to associate with, but he had no one else.

If Rael was honest with himself, which he seldom was, he was downright afraid of being alone. He'd been that way once and it had led to the biggest mistake of his life. He didn't want to be that vulnerable again. No, if his brother was out there then Rael had to find him.

"I'm sure he's alone too. He probably needs me," Kess told himself. "Wouldn't want him to get too lonesome." Over the years he'd become a master at fooling himself into believing his own tough macho lies, but try as he might he just couldn't convince himself of this one. Who was he kidding? His brother had never needed anyone, but then again, it wasn't about his brother. It was about his own curiosity. He wanted to see what the other man was like now. Had he changed? Though what Rael cared about most was that fact that his brother was all he had and Kess would risk everything to keep from being alone and unloved for the rest of his life. Yes, there was nothing else to do but to find him.

"Kess! I said 'those are the rules. Do you understand?' Are you even listening?" Sid snapped.

"Oh, uh yeah," Rael said quickly with a nod.

"Good. Now come with me and we'll get you out of here."

_Note: Rael's name is pronounced "Ray-el" or basically if you talk fast like he does it just becomes "Rail" like the things trains run on. It's a name my friend, _ .com_ came up with for me. It could also be a derivative of the name Gayle or Gael, I suppose._


	2. Chapter 2: Help From Friends Sort Of

**Chapter 2: Help From Friends… Well Sort Of**

A week later Rael awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. The floor of his new apartment felt cold against his bare feet as he padded across the room. "I'm comin'. I'm comin'. Hold your stinkin' horses," he mumbled sleepily. He fumbled with the cell phone for a moment before finding the right button. "Yo. This is Rael. Talk to me."

"Hey Ace. It's Free."

"Ha ha! Nobody's called me Ace in five years. So did you get the info I asked you for?" He drummed his fingers anxiously on the table beside him.

"Well… sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of'? Did you locate him or not? You and Eruka have been free all this time and… hey, quit laughing."

"Sorry. It's just that you said 'free' and…"

"And your name's Free. Yeah, I get it." Rael rolled his gray eyes. "Point is you two have had five years to start over, to build a network of connections."

"Is that your way of saying 'becoming spies and informants for someone other than Medusa?" came another voice on the line.

"Eruka! Hey doll. Didn't know you were there too. Missed you somethin' awful when I was stuck in the slammer."

"Yeah right, ribbit."

Rael chuckled. He'd always been good at flattering and impressing the ladies but Eruka had never fallen for his charms. "How come you never believe me, babe?"

"Because you're full of it, ribbit. You don't mean any of that garbage you say. Flirting is just a big game for you. The only person I ever met who liked using her charms to manipulate people as much as you was…"

"Don't compare me to her! I'm just messin' around. I never broke anyone's heart! I don't take it that far!" He was breathing heavily as his heart pounded at the old memories he thought he'd buried so deep inside himself that he would never feel their pain again. Maybe it wasn't deep enough after all.

With great effort he forced the memories to the back of his mind and tried to resume the conversation. "Let's see, oh yeah, I remember. Yes, Eruka, I meant spying."

"What makes you think we work for anyone? We could have gone straight," Free said.

"Yeah right. A guy who took a witch's eye and Medusa's best spy? Sneakin' around is what you… well, Eruka does best. There's no way you two don't work for somebody. I don't care who it is though so please don't tell me. I'll be in enough trouble as it is if anybody ever catches me talkin' to you. Point is… umm…" He struggled to remember what his point had originally been. "Oh yeah. Point is, what the hell is 'sort of' s'posed to mean?"

"He means," the little frog witch explained, "that we only have rumors and leads, ribbit. We don't have anything definite."

Rael sighed audibly. "How hard is it to find someone like that? He's pretty hard to miss. Somebody's got to have seen him!"

"Well that's what we mean by 'rumors'. People have reported seeing a demon weapon like that but you only get second hand stories." Free replied.

"They're probably scared of what he could do to them, so no one wants to admit to anything first hand," Eruka added.

"Look," Rael sighed, "I don't care if it's first hand, second hand, or even third or fourth hand. Just tell me what you know already."

"Alright. All we can find out is that someone like you described has been sighted around some little town in South America. Hey Free! Where did you put that paper with the name of that town? We'll find it. Hang on."


	3. Chapter 3: Found At Last

**Chapter 3: Found At Last**

The door to the only bar and casino in a peculiar little South American town, with a name Rael could pronounce or even spell, banged closed behind him. The loud sound didn't seem to bother the bar's patrons. No one turned around to see who had come in. They just sat there and continued their drinking and gambling.

Rael's quick eyes darted around the place in search of a familiar face. The unsettling thought that perhaps after so many years, nineteen to be precise, he might not even recognize his brother, suddenly occurred to him. Maybe he'd missed him back in some other little village and never knew it. He swallowed hard at the thought. He'd broken his parole and wasted far too much time and energy in these damn jungles to not find him!

Then as Rael's eyes scanned the card tables one last time his gaze came to rest on one man in particular. He looked a little older than Kess by not by much. His eyes were brown and burned with an intensity Rael had seldom seen equaled. His hair was a funny color that was something between blonde and light brown. It stuck up in weird shapes and was completely unruly. He had a lean frame and was quite a bit taller than Rael. What really made Rael notice him, however, were his teeth. They were pointed like a shark's. That looked familiar. Then of course there was the way he was screaming at the man across the table.

"You cheating son of a bitch, what are you trying to pull?"

Rael watched with interest as a fight then broke out. Knives were thrown, guns were fired and above it all the roar of a chainsaw could be heard. There was no doubt about it. This was the man he'd been looking for. It was him. This was Giriko!

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Rael said in his smoothest voice as he stepped into the fray, "Let's not fight. We're all adults here, ain't we? Let's settle our disputes with a friendly game. I came to win, not watch people chop each other apart." As he spoke he shot a look at Giriko. "Come one boys. Put your money where your mouth is and let's play."

"Just who are you?" barked a large man with a mustache.

"They call me Ace," Rael said with a confident smile.

"Pretty cocky if you ask me," piped up an old bald man. "You some hot shot card player then, junior?"

Rael wrinkled his nose with distaste at being referred to as "junior". All the same it wouldn't do to start a fight now when he'd just broken one up. Besides there could be plenty of fighting later. He might need to save his strength. So he ignored it and kept his response short and sweet. "I never lose."

"Let's see you prove that," Giriko snarled.

"Nothin' I'd like better." His smile this time was directed right at Giriko and it really was cocky. "But first I'm buyin' a round of drinks for everybody."


	4. Chapter 4: You Live Here?

**Chapter 4: You Live Here?**

In the early hours of the morning two figures could be seen staggering through the empty streets, one holding up the other. "Ugh, for a skinny guy you weigh a ton," Rael grumbled.

"What did you say?" Giriko snapped.

"Nothin'. Which way did you say your place was again?"

"That way," Giriko slurred drunkenly as he pointed a shaky finger to his left.

The two struggled on in silence for a moment or two before coming to a house that was so small and run down that Rael felt calling it a 'shack' would have been rather generous. "You live here?" he asked with a frown.

"Yep," Giriko mumbled and they made their way inside.

It wasn't long before Rael had helped his brother into bed and made a pot of coffee. "Here you go," he said as he handed Giriko a cup. "This'll help sober you up." The wasted weapon accepted it without a word.

Glancing around Rael spotted a beat up kitchen chair and pulled it up beside the bed. Flopping into it he sighed. "Whew, I haven't drank or gambled like that in years. What a night!"

"Oh that was nothing," Giriko said, his voice a little louder than necessary, but that was nothing new.

"Yeah I s'pose this is sort of a nightly ritual for you, isn't it?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Giriko shouted as he tried to jump out of bed.

"Nothin'. Just relax and drink your coffee." Rael placed a hand on Giriko's chest and gently pushed him back down into a sitting position. Had he been sober the demon chainsaw might have resisted, but as drunk as he was he said nothing and even drank his coffee without complaint. This didn't do much to put Rael at ease however. Giriko had been a young teenager when Rael had last seen him but he was drinking then too and Rael distinctly remembered the angry violent outbursts that would occur when his brother got into their father's liquor cabinet. Not that angry and violent weren't words that described Giriko when he was sober as well, Rael thought, but the point was that his brother had always been a ticking time bomb and Kess doubted time had changed him any. He would have to be on his guard.


	5. Chapter 5: They Call Me Ace

**Chapter 5: They Call Me Ace**

As morning drug on into afternoon and then to evening Rael could see the change in his brother as he began to sober up. The fire returned to eyes that had looked dull and unseeing. His speech was returning to normal and his coordination seemed to be coming back as well. One other thing was slowly returning to him and it was the one Rael had been waiting for, his memory.

After what seemed like an eternity Giriko turned and looked Rael straight in the eye. Kess could see the look of recognition appear on his face. "You're the guy from the card game last night, aren't you?"

"Yep, that's me," Rael said with a little grin.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Giriko asked, a confused expression on his face.

"Looked like you could use a hand gettin' home so I helped you. That's all."

Giriko looked at him for a while, not quite certain what to say. Even though he was starting to sober up, the world still seemed a little hazy somehow. He put a somewhat shaky hand on his forehead.

"Got a headache?"

"I'm hung over! Of course I have a headache, you idiot!" Giriko clutched his head and moaned quietly. Maybe shouting at the guy in the cap was a bad idea.

"Sheesh, you don't have to yell. I admit it was a dumb question. You want an ice bag for your head?"

"Don't have one," Giriko said in a softer voice. "Never mind my head anyway. I'm fine."

Rael shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you say."

The two of them sat in silence for a time, Rael stroking his little red soul patch (all that remained of the beard he'd grown in prison) and lost in thought while Giriko stared off into space. "What did you say your name was?" he asked at last.

"Folks call me Ace."

"That's right. I remember now. Ace, huh? Guess that's no big surprise. You won every game last night." Giriko fixed Rael with an icy stare before continuing. "Now look, kid, I've been playing cards for a long time and if there's one thing I've learned it's that nobody's that good. What's your game? How'd you do it?"

"You really think I'd cheat all those guys? Just what kind of man do you think I am?" Rael pretended to be hurt but his smile easily gave him away.

"I think you've got a pretty good scam going and…"

"And you want in on it," Rael interrupted.

"Damn right."

"What if I say no? You gonna take me back to the boys and expose my dirty little trick?"

"I'll do what I was going to do last before it occurred to me to try and get in on this. I'll cut you to ribbons."

"Alright alright. No need to get violent. You asked me how I did it, right? Well, I'll tell you. It's a great trick but it's actually really simple. I'm a weapon like you. I'm also like you in that I don't need a meister."

"Very interesting but what does that have to do with your scam?" Giriko grumbled impatiently.

"I'm trying to tell you. My weapon ability is that I can turn my body into blades that I can throw, sort of like ninja stars. Big difference though is mine don't look like ordinary shurikens. They look like playing cards." Rael could see that Giriko was giving him a skeptical look. "Haven't you ever seen people in a sideshow or something throw a card so hard it sticks in a watermelon or a wooden door? How about hit bull's-eyes with 'em in target practice? Well it's just like that except that mine are real blades so I can do a lot more damage. I can kill a man."

He paused and glanced at Giriko to gauge his reaction. He only look mildly impressed. Rael knew his brother often had a short attention span, but sometimes he would fixate on something, like this and not let it go. As long as he had it in his mind to learn the secret to Rael's scam nothing else would satisfy him.

"It's simple to stack the deck or hide a card up your sleeve or any of the regular tricks when you just make the cards from your body. That also makes it real easy to get rid of the evidence if someone accuses you of cheating since I can just suck the cards back up into myself."

Now Giriko's eyes were wide. "We could make a damn fortune with a trick like that! We'll live like kings!" Rael swore he could see dollar signs in his brother's eyes. Ordinarily this would have made him laugh, but he was too consumed by the feelings inside him, to feel like laughing. Frustration and resentment were building as it was becoming clear that even with this new revelation about his powers Giriko still had no idea who he was. How many guys were there that could turn into playing cards? How could he possibly forget that?

For a moment Rael considered just telling Giriko that he was his little brother, but quickly rejected the idea. That would be too easy. Besides the fact that he meant so little to Giriko that he could be forgotten just like that hurt him more than he'd ever admit. He was going to find out just what it took to make his brother remember him.

"Whoa, slow down buddy. I said I'd tell you how I did it, not form a partnership and take this show on the road. Last night was a fluke. I don't usually do that."

Giriko's mouth dropped open for a second. "Wait. You're refusing? Are you freakin' crazy? Don't you know what this could do for you? A year or so of this and you'd be living the high life for good!"

"Hmm… not a bad idea. Maybe I'll give that a try but that still doesn't mean I need you. After all, it's obvious you're trouble and as some wise guy somewhere said, 'better to be alone than in bad company' or something to that effect."

Giriko grabbed him the collar of his red shirt. "You're messing with the wrong man, boy! Do you want me to saw you in half? "

Rael frowned. He liked being called "boy" about as much as he liked being called "junior." Why were people always so condescending? Was it because he was only 5'5? Maybe it was the youthful face. He could never tell.

"Okay. I get the picture," he said calmly. "How about a little game? Don't worry I can't cheat at this one. It's really simple. We've met before. I know who you are, Giriko, but do you know me? If you can tell me where we've met before then we'll give this idea of yours a try."

"You're a real psycho, kid! I'm about to kill you and you want to play games?" He released his hold on Rael's shirt and sat back down on the bed. "What kind of dumb game is that anyway? Oh well. If that's what you want. This should be a piece of cake."

Giriko thought for a few moments but couldn't come up with a thing. About that time it occurred to him that he was going to have to sift through 800 plus years of memories and information for one little thought. Maybe this wasn't going to be so easy after all.

Rael watched his brother with mixed feelings. Part of him felt like laughing because he knew that Giriko had to be struggling to go through all the information stored within him. After all being part of the same "experiment," "phenomenon", whatever you wanted to call it, that gave rise to Giriko, he'd had to deal with such things too. Fortunately whether due to evolution, a stronger soul, or something unknown to him, Rael had always had an easier time shutting out unwanted memories and controlling the violent urges that were encoded in his DNA. Never the less, they were still there and he did occasionally battle them, so he knew what Giriko was going through.

He did feel, however, that even with all of that to sift through, a memory as important as that of your brother ought to jump to forefront. Heaven knew he'd tried to forget his older sibling over the years but had never been able to. How could it be so easy for Giriko? The thought filled him with anger and pain.

Rael's thoughts changed direction as he watched him scratch his head in frustration as he thought. He noted how the demon weapon's hand was shaking. That's right. He was still hung over.

"Look," he said and put a hand on Giriko's shoulder that immediately shaken off, "I've been thinkin'. You're still a little hung over. That's not a very fair time to be askin' you to remember stuff. Let's forget it until tomorrow. Now it's getting late. Why don't we get some sleep?"


	6. Chapter 6: Forgotten And Furious

**Chapter 6: Forgotten And Furious And Ready For A Fight**

The next day dawned bright and extremely hot. Rael groaned as he slowly got up off Giriko's floor where he'd spent the night on a blanket. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "How can it be so damn hot already? It's only 8 o'clock. Whew!"

Giriko had been snoring away relatively peacefully but at the sound of Rael's voice he sat bolt upright in bed and would have jumped right into a fighting stance if Kess hadn't stopped him. "Cool it, sport. It's just me."

"You're still here, huh?" Giriko mumbled as he rubbed his eyes and his muscles relaxed. "I thought you were just part of some weird dream."

Rael laughed loudly. "Sorry. 'Fraid I'm real. Guess I can see where you might think that though. You've always had weird dreams like that, ones that were hard to tell apart from reality, I mean."

Giriko's brown eyes were wide as he stared at the younger man in disbelief. "What the hell? How do you know that?" His voice cracked slightly as he shouted excitedly.

The man calling himself "Ace" smiled and winked at the human chainsaw. "I told you yesterday. We've met before, remember? I know all sorts of stuff about you, Giriko."

"That's impossible! If I'd ever met a crazy freak like you I think I'd remember! Besides somebody could have told you that thing about the dreams." He was breathing hard and looked more than a little unnerved even if he was doing his best to rationalize it all.

"Like who?" Rael shot back. "You don't have any family, do you? I'd also be willing to bet that even though you love to talk that isn't the sort of thing you usually tell people, is it? So how would I know that if I don't know you?" Rael was breathing hard now too, having let himself get caught up in his own excitement.

"I don't know!" Giriko shouted, his voice breaking even more obviously. "Hey, what so damn funny?"

Rael was laughing so hard that tears were welling up in his playful gray eyes. "You never grew outta that? Poor Giriko!" This was met with a pillow to the face as Giriko cleared his throat awkwardly. Fortunately for Rael the pillow had been the nearest thing to his brother's hand. If it had been something heavier or deadlier he would have undoubtedly thrown that.

Rael finally managed to stop laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes. Giriko had his back to him and appeared to be sulking. He hasn't changed a bit, Rael thought.

"So you're somebody that knew me growing up?" Giriko said thoughtfully after they'd been silent for a while.

"Given what I said that would seem like a fair assumption," Rael replied with a nod.

"Where are you from?" his brother asked seemingly out of nowhere.

"Pardon?"

"I said where are you from? You didn't get that stupid accent around here."

Rael stuck his tongue out at Giriko in a childish manner. Perhaps his brother wasn't the only one who'd never grown up completely. "It's not stupid. I'll have you know some people think it's sexy." Giriko snorted but Rael just ignored him. "I'm from New Jersey, you know in the USA."

"Then that settles it. I didn't know anybody from America when I was growing up. I barely even knew any English. We mostly just spoke Czech in Loew village." Giriko was grinning triumphantly at having finally bested the strange card player. Rael was about to answer when a funny look crossed Giriko's face as if he'd just thought of something. "You know, that card-blade thing does seem vaguely familiar though. Wonder why."

That did it! Something in Rael snapped and he began screaming at Giriko in Czech. "Giriko, you friggin' idiot, what the hell's wrong with you? How can you not know me? It's me, you moron! I'm Rael, your little brother!" Angry tears were streaming down his cheeks. "How come you can't recognize me?" he whispered, changing back into the English they'd been using. "I knew you right away."

The sound of Rael's voice yelling in their native tongue shocked Giriko as did hearing Rael's name, one he hadn't heard in years. This annoying young man was really his annoying little brother? This was insane! His amazement was quickly replaced by anger, however, as his attention shifted and he realized that he was being screamed at and insulted by this little punk.

"Of course you did," Giriko screamed back at him, his speech becoming a strange mixture of English and Czech. "I haven't changed but you, you're nothing like the scrawny kid that disappeared. Besides why would I have even thought of my brother as a possibility for your identity when everyone thought he was dead? You vanished when you were eight years old…"

"Ten. I ran away when I was ten."

"Whatever. Point is you were just a kid. Most people thought you'd been kidnapped or something and if you had run away, well no one thought you could survive on your own out there, let alone that you'd ever make it to America and pick up a stupid accent…" Giriko picked up a strand of Rael's shoulder length red-brown hair. "…and a lousy haircut," he muttered as he dropped the hair back onto Rael's shoulder. Now he was just trying to piss Rael off and it was working.

Kess ground his teeth together. "There's nothin' wrong with the way I talk or that I wear my hair a little long. Besides your hair's a disaster too."

"Why the hell did you run off anyway?" Giriko asked, ignoring his little brother's comments.

"Oh that's an easy one," Rael snarled, "because I had a father who knocked me around all the time, a mother who didn't give a shit, and an older brother who never had the guts to stand up for me and then bullied me himself into the bargain! Sometimes you were just as bad as our father! If I wanted to see my eleventh birthday I had to get away from the two of you!"

"Oh poor baby!" Giriko mocked. "Do you really think you're the only one who got smacked around by the old man? That you're the only one who suffered? He beat me too, you know!"

"What are you talkin' about? He hardly ever touched you! He liked you best!"

Giriko's voice became tremulous and cracked once again as he shouted, "What the hell would you know about it, boy? You weren't there anymore. Things changed. When you ran off like a coward he started in on me instead! We'd shared it before but now I had to go it alone! Don't act so pathetic! I suffered too!"

"Oh don't act like a damn martyr! You could have run away too," Rael said rolling his eyes.

"Only cowards run. I've never run from anything in my life."

"Well whatever. If you were stupid enough to stay there and suffer that ain't my fault. I just did what I had to."

"You're bitching and whining at me because I didn't keep you from getting hurt but you don't give a shit that your cowardice earned me just as much pain as you ever got? Get off your high horse, Rael! You're no better than me!" By this time Giriko was screaming in his face.

"Don't you dare try to blame me for what happened to you! I was just trying to…"

"I don't want to hear your excuses, boy! Besides if you hate me so much why the hell did waste your time trying to find me?"

"I wish I knew," Rael moaned and threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat. "Guess I was hopin' you'd changed. Maybe I figured that since you were the only thing I had left in the world that maybe you were alone and in the same boat. Maybe I figured you'd be lonely, that you'd be glad to see me. I don't know." He hung his head and sighed miserably.

"Guess you don't know as well as you think you do," Giriko said with a smug look.

"Yeah I forgot how much you like bein' a loner."

"Bet you're regretting being dumb enough to play your stupid guessing games with me."

"I sure as hell am!" Rael cried, his anger raging inside once more, as he hauled off and punched Giriko in the face as hard as he could.

Giriko staggered back a couple of steps but quickly regained his balance and stood, one leg raised, chains visible, ready for battle. His nose was dripping blood on the wood floor. This meant war! "You want to fight, little boy?"

"Oh yeah," Rael said. His voice was quiet but intense. "I've waited a long time for this. I was either gonna make up with you and be your friend or I was gonna kill you. Guess now I know which one it is." There was an ugly sneer on his face that was every bit as blood thirsty as the one on Giriko's. "Let's do this!"

"Hell yeah! It's been a while since I got to kill something!" The chains on his legs roared to life and he made a dash across the room towards Rael. He was out for blood!

"Stop!" Rael yelled, making a time-out signal with his hands. Giriko was so surprised that he stopped half way across the room and stared wide eyed at his gray eyed brother.

"What the hell? What's your problem? I thought you were going to fight me?"

"I just thought of somethin'. If I'm wanted for breaking parole and you… well you've gotta be wanted for somethin'," he said with a shrug, "then the last thing we wanna do is make a ton of noise and attract attention to ourselves. If I can find you because of rumors and what not, so can other people. Same goes for me. If people start talkin' about a guy who battles with cards then Lord Death's little minions can find me too."

"What's your point?" Giriko snarled impatiently. He was looking forward to kicking Rael's ass and now the damn punk was stalling.

"My point is that we can't fight here. We have to go someplace where we aren't goin' to attract attention, some place private."

"That's stupid," Giriko said rolling his eyes.

"No, it ain't. I don't want to go back to prison! I'm sure as hell not goin' back because of some dumb fight with you. I'm perfectly willing to fight you, in fact I'm totally psyched about it, but just not here."

Giriko thought for a moment. The kid did have a point. If Rael could find him then his enemies probably could too. Maybe attracting too much attention was a bad thing. "Alright, if that's what you want. I just want to gut you and then detach your head from your shoulders, but it's no fun if you don't fight back. If this is what it'll take to get you to fight me, then fine. I know just the place."


	7. Chapter 7: Giriko vs Justin and Arachne

**Chapter 7: Giriko vs. Justin and Arachne**

"So where exactly are we going?" Rael asked while he struggled to keep up with Giriko as they hurried through the forest. His legs were quite a bit shorter than his taller brother's. "Slow down," he panted as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Ugh, how can you stand this climate?"

"You just get used to it."

"Oh yeah, forgot you've been here the whole time I was in prison. Gonna ask you again though, where are we going?"

"Baba Yaga Castle, or what's left of it," was the curt reply.

"Guess that's as good a place as any," Rael said with a nod.

They walked in silence for quite a while. The air was humid and oppressive, and if that wasn't enough to keep them from wanting to speak, they were still angry at one another. What was there to say to someone you hated so much?

Eventually, Rael naturally, was the one to break the stalemate. He'd never been comfortable with silence. It was just one of his little idiosyncrasies. He had to talk or be listening to someone else. He generally preferred to do the talking though.

Putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, he cleared his throat. "So… uh… what have you been up to all this time?"

Giriko glanced over at him with a smirk on his face. "Couldn't take the silence anymore?" He chuckled as he continued. "Not much. Been moving around from place to place and…"

Rael cut him off. "Wait a second. How did you escape? I was at the same battle but I got caught by Death's troops. What gives?"

Giriko's face became twisted into an angry scowl but it quickly resolved itself into a neutral expression as he shrugged. "Strategic retreat. That damn priest got scared and made a break for it. I saw that things weren't exactly going our way so I got out while the going was good."

Kess saw the flicker of anger cross his brother's face. It was clear there were some hard feelings between Giriko and this priest. He had to chuckle as the chainsaw tried to downplay everything. It was obvious to Rael that his brother was lying about the priest running away. Perhaps someone had actually been able to defeat Giriko or at least fight a battle that ended in a draw. If so, this man was one amazing fighter!

"So who is this 'damn priest?"

"A death scythe. Think his name's Justin or something like that." Giriko shrugged casually.

"Wait a minute. You mean Justin Law? The boy who was the youngest to ever become a death scythe and doesn't even need a meister? Never takes his headphones out? That Justin?"

"Sounds like him. How do you know him?"

"He's the one that captured me and turned me over to Lord Death." Rael was blushing bright red. How could Giriko escape the same man who had defeated the card-blade wielding Kess? It wasn't fair!

Giriko burst out laughing with delight. "That kid beat you? He's just a blue-eyed baby! Ha ha! Little Rael got his ass kicked by a boy in a dress!"

Ace rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "He got the jump on me, caught me off guard, and then he turned out to be a lot tougher than he looks. You can't tell me that the first time you fought him you didn't underestimate him."

"Not enough to lose to him."

"Alright alright. So I lost to him, but I'm certainly not the first one. He wouldn't be a death scythe if he wasn't pretty damn kick ass!" Rael cleared his throat and did his best to will the pink in his cheeks to disappear. "Enough about me anyway. Let's go back to my original question. What have you been doing since you managed to oh so cleverly evade Death's army?"

"Not much. Moving around from place to place."

"How do you survive? You got a job?"

"Sometimes I win at cards or that sort of thing."

"Gamblin's not exactly a career. Besides you ain't that good of a card player. You have to do something else," Rael said chuckling softly.

"Well if you'd shut up and let me finish a thought for a change I might tell you." Giriko's face was tense. He was still angry with his brother and Rael was continuing to push his buttons. Would this kid ever learn when to shut up?

"Oh sorry. Go ahead."

"People are willing to pay for power like mine. If the pay's good enough then I help them out."

"You mean you're just a gun for hire, well a chainsaw for hire." Rael said with a smile. "You just rent yourself out to anybody who'll pay you?"

"I guess you could say that," Giriko said with a little shrug.

Ace nodded. "Guess that suits you." Rael paused and took a moment to look Giriko up and down. Then he locked eyes with his brother. "Don't you ever get lonely? You seem like you're on your own out here."

"Of course not. What the hell would I want someone following me around and getting in my way for? It'd be kind of like being out here with you. Some annoying idiot talking all the time and asking me stupid questions. Besides, haven't you figured out by now that people hurt you and use you? You can't trust anybody. Even that old hag, Arachne, that I… we…" Giriko paused and confusion and frustration showed in his brown eyes.

Rael wasn't sure whether to laugh or to feel sorry for him. It was comical, or at least satisfying to watch a man who was so obnoxious and full of himself looking so pathetic. On the other hand though, it was how pathetic he looked that made Rael feel a bit sorry for him. It was always hard to feel like a fool in front of someone else. Besides, Giriko's pride and strong will, though infuriating at times, was just part of what made him… well, Giriko.

Kess sighed, not really wanting to be nice to this man who had hurt him all his life, and yet feeling compelled to say something, he said quietly, "Don't worry. I know what you mean. Sometimes it's hard to know how much of you is really you. All these memories and junk from so many ancestors along the way. It's crazy! I get it." He smiled weakly. "Well never mind all that. What about Arachne?"

"Waited 800 years for to show herself and lead the fight to overthrow that shinigami son-of-a-bitch. Then when the battle finally starts I'm going head to head with that priest. Things are going just fine until there's this big explosion nearby. He says that they're just firing indiscriminately…"

"That's a big word for you."

"Shut up! Anyway, the point is they don't care where I am. I'm not important. He says that I'm expendable! Can you believe it?! I waited all that time for that witch bitch and she'd just leave me to die! What the hell!" Giriko turned his back and Rael could see from his hunched posture that though he wasn't crying he was still really upset. Wow! Even when they were kids, Rael didn't remember ever seeing his brother get so shook up about something. Then again, he thought, this was something quite serious. This was what Giriko's whole life had been about. Arachne's return had been the purpose for his existence. To be brushed aside with no thought at all must have been crushing! It sure as well was when… oh never mind, he thought to himself. The point was that his brother must be hurting.

"Giriko, I… I…" Rael struggled to find the words. He was still so angry and yet seeing the demon chainsaw so pathetic touched something in him. "I'm sorry," he said at last. "I can't believe she did that to you."

"I don't need your pity!" Giriko spat as he spun around to face Rael. "What the hell do I care about her anyway? She sold me out. Well then she can rot in hell for all I care!"

"That's probably where she went," Rael agreed quietly. "But look, relax Giriko. Don't blow a gasket. It's over, right? You gotta try to let it go. Get yourself a new goal, somethin' else to focus on."

"Oh you mean like sawing you into a million little pieces when we get to the ruins?" The ugly blood-thirsty look in his eyes and the toothy sneer had returned to his face and Giriko looked every bit the part of a demon weapon, or perhaps just a demon.

Rael groaned and shook his head. His brother really was determined to kill him. Fine, if that was the way he wanted it. The gray-eyed young man could feel his own anger returning. He'd been stupid to feel sorry for Giriko in the first place. The older weapon certainly didn't need his pity or his help. All he wanted to do was kill and at that particular moment there was a part of Rael that wanted the same thing! Someone was going to die that day. It was just a question of who.


End file.
